SOMERVILLE – A recently released report by the Somerville Clean and Open Elections Task Force includes 16 recommendations to increase voter participation, lower barriers to candidate participation, and increase the openness and transparency of the election process. At the request of Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, two of the recommendations will soon be under debate by the Board of Aldermen: that for City and School Board elections only, the City seek home rule petitions from the State Legislature to lower the voting age to 16 and expand voting to non-citizens who would otherwise be eligible to vote.

Before joining Middlesex Federal, Fred was a Commercial Lender at Berkshire Bank, the former Commerce Bank, and Mercantile Bank & Trust where he was the Senior Lender. Fred also worked at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and other Boston area banks. For more than 35 years, he has been lending to Boston area businesses. Fred earned his M.B.A. from Suffolk University and is a graduate of Salem State College. He resides in Reading with his wife and has two children that live in Medford.

SOMERVILLE—Lead Paint Safe Somerville staff are using Lead Paint Poisoning Prevention Week, which runs from October 21 to 27, to remind residents about the dangers lead paint poses to young children. Although lead paint was banned in 1978, it is still present in many older homes and nearly 90 percent of Somerville’s housing was built prior to the ban.

Bill(H 4490) – Approved by the Health Care Financing Committee on June 14, 2018 and still stuck in the House Ways and Means Committee is a proposal requiring all facilities that provide mastectomy surgery, lymph node dissection or a lumpectomy to provide specific information to the patient in writing prior to the patient giving consent to the procedure.

(H 4930) – The House and Senate approved on a voice vote without a roll call and sent to Gov. Charlie Baker a $540 million fiscal 2018 state budget to close out the books on the fiscal year that ended on July 30. The funds are from the state’s surplus leftover as a result of higher than expected tax revenue. The budget puts $240 million in the state’s Rainy Day Fund, boosting its total to more than $2 billion.

Question 2 asks voters if they approve of a proposed law that would create a citizens’ commission to consider and recommend potential amendments to the U.S. Constitution to establish that corporations do not have the same constitutional rights as human beings and that campaign contributions and expenditures may be regulated.

THE HOUSE AND SENATE. There were no roll calls in the House or Senate last week. This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call continues its three-part series looking at the questions on the November 6 ballot. This week the focus is on Question 2.

GOOD MORNING – TODAY IS SUNDAY, October 21, the 294th day of 2018 with 71 to follow. Sunrise in the Boston area is @ 7:03 and sunset is @ 5:53. The moon is waxing. The morning stars are stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury & Saturn. The evening stars are Neptune, Uranus & Venus.